January 24th/2012

    Good Morning to all old friends, new friends, family and stalkers! My name is Shawn and some of you may know me, some of you may not. I have been toying with the idea for some time now of starting a blog and putting some ideas and thoughts down on "paper". I have struggled with the idea for a bit cause I wasn't sure how much I actually wanted to put on here that was personal information. I am incredibly new to this and unsure how this all works, so bear with me. Might be a little bit of rambling here and there; might be a little jumping around too; that's just how my brain works.
    So, where do I start? How about a little bit about me? I live in Alberta with a wonderful woman named Krystle, my wife. I have two awesome kids aged 6 and 5. Liliana is the oldest and Gabriel is the youngest. I work in the oil patch and have done so for the last 20 years now. I believe in God and I am a christian. I am not perfect in any way shape or form, I don't push my thoughts and ideas on people. If you ask me what I believe in, I will gladly tell you. But this isn't what I wanted to write about. Maybe at a later date we can talk about my beliefs. Today, I want to tell you quickly what I am very passionate about. It is the whole reason that I wanted to start this blog. I am on here to blog about mental illness and my struggles with it.
    I have an Anxiety Disorder. There I said it. I posted it. I just told the world. Why? 1 in 5 Canadians have some sort of mental illness. Depression, Anxiety, Bi-Polar etc. Its out there and it is not recognized. I don't mean this the way that it sounds, but I was very glad that a few NHLers died last summer as a result of some sort of mental illness. It started the ball rolling for me and for others. It started to open people's eyes, and for that I am thankful. I am tired of hiding my illness. People with Diabetes, Cancer, Parkinson's, HIV, Lou Gehrig's Disease and so on and so on, don't have to live with a stigmata attached to them. They don't hide their struggles and fight with their "disease"/"sickness"/"illness". Why should I? Why should I "hide in the closet"? Well, I am not anymore.
     So, that's the start of my blog. I can't promise that I will be here everyday. I will try my best to fill a few lines at least. Well, its time to go to work. Have a great day, stay safe and love your families!
Shawn